October 25, 2009

Which of these books is it believable Obama really loves? Was "The Golden Notebook" personally transformative for him or did somebody — some insane person — tell him it would be a good inclusion on the list? And what's with "Shakespeare's Tragedies"? What was the thinking there? "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" seems too generic, but if you specify a play, people will compare you to a particular character.

Also, when I first looked at this, I thought the books on the shelves were supposed to be his favourite books. And wondered, "Isn't the Invisible Empire the KKK? I mean, I guess that makes sense . . ."

Here's the real list that is also made up. Of course, the books are not actually read by the president, someone else does that then tells the president what's in them Cliff Notes fashion according to their best interpretation, and you'll just have to settle for that. Still, it's nice to imagine the president reading them, and you should read them too. (It's what we do -- recommend books)

* Here I Stand, Paul Robeson

* Politics the Wellstone Way, How to Elect Progressive Candidates and Win on Issues, Wellstne Action and Bill Lofy

* A Theory of Justice, John Rawls

* The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, Sam Harris

* The Law in Shambles, Thomas Georghegan

* People's History of the United States* A Young People's " " " " American Empire* A Power Governments Cannot Suppressetc., Howard Zinn

I would like to thank the Althouse commenter who suggested Jim Webb's "Born Fighting" as a book Mr. Obama should read. This was in a thread in July or August. I bought the book, read it on vacation and value it highly.

Balfegor...Your are right. I always thought Shakespear's "Histories" were tragedies too.They certainly were not comedies. I guess when a bad character is king it's only called a history, but when a good character is king it always turns into a tragedy. William Shakespear was always the best to ever put truth about humans onto paper.He was so good that no one wants to admit one man wrote them.

Whenever I see these kinds of lists I think of an early episode of Friends (scoff if you will) where they say what Rachel tells people her favorite movie is (some artsy thing) and what her actual favorite movie is (weekend at bernies). I wish these lists were real. They would be far more fun. As it is, it seems like a race to see who can be more pretentious/political. Feh.

It occurred to me, after watching the Obamas' respective speeches in support of Chicago's Olympic bid, that neither of them was what you could call a persuasive or sales speech. They didn't try to persuade their audience, the IOC, that it would be to their advantage or the advantage of the Olympics to give them to Chicago.

No, the speeches were all about the Obamas. How much they wanted the Olympics to go to their hometown. How this would benefit Americans, who would then be able to learn to ride bikes (?) and defeat the Scourge of Childhood Obeeeesity(??). How proud and happy they, Barack and Michelle, would be should the Olympics go to Chicago. It was just very... off. Very self-centered, compared to the sort of speech that might be effective in that situation.

And thinking about this, it occurred to me that the tone of these presentations would have been completely appropriate in one circumstance: a college admissions essay. In an admissions essay, you might (with due modesty) refer to the diversity the college would acquire with you as a student, or even the great scientist/historian/writer/etc. the field might acquire as a result of your admission, but it's far more likely that you'll talk about the benefits to you. How much you want to go to this particular school, how hard you've worked for it, how much it will mean to you. The Olympic speeches didn't work, felt off, because they did just this.

Now this list. What kind of a poseur generates such a list when asked for his favorite books? (What kind of uber-poseur puts "the tragedies of Shakespeare" on the list, instead of making the minimal effort needed to dredge up one title from a half-remembered high-school English class?) I'll tell you: a poseur who's writing a college admissions essay. A smart high school senior is expected to put something like this on such a list. Hopefully he or she gets over it by college graduation, having learned enough to actually have a list of favorites, rather than needing to generate one on the basis of what sounds impressive.

I think Obama listed Gandhi's autobiography because it sounds high-minded.

I read An Autobiography as a teenager, and I came away thinking Gandhi was an unattractive kook. I was amazed that so much of the book dealt with Gandhi's obsessions about his diet and so little about politics. Several times, he limited his diet to nuts and berries (no pulses, green leafy vegetables, or tree fruit) to the point of hospitalization.

I was watching David Axelrod at Harvard on C-Span today. He was talking about Obama being uncomfortable with the requirements of running for office, particularly with the rigors and time constraints of debates, but also with working for the sound byte.

When he heard who McCain had selected for his running mate, he commented on how hard it would be to hit the ground running, given how long it had taken him to essentially learn how to "run". Palin had three weeks to learn what he had been working on for a year.

The story continues as Joe Biden is told that McCain selected Sarah Palin. Biden responds, "Who is she?"

The Golden Notebook was SUCH a depressing, dull, bleak, pointless book. I remember plowing along trying to enjoy and appreciate it because Everyone Said That It Was So Meaningful For Women. At some point I just dropped it and walked away from it. Such a relief. I don't believe for one moment that Obama has read three pages of it.

This is such a funny line in the NYT article: "(which surely stands as the most evocative, lyrical and candid autobiography written by a future president)" Talk about damning with faint praise! How many future presidents have written autobiographies? Did ANY other future presidents write autobiographies? It can't be a very competitive field!

Three great memories from State: browsing that bookstore as a kid with the promise that my mother would buy me a book if it was suitably challenging, getting a hard salami sandwich at Ella's with my grandmother the week of my first communion, and holding hands on the sidewalk with my first girlfriend after I impulsively bought her an geeky, cheap mouth harp (boing, boing, boing) for her birthday at a music store.

"I read An Autobiography as a teenager, and I came away thinking Gandhi was an unattractive kook. I was amazed that so much of the book dealt with Gandhi's obsessions about his diet and so little about politics. Several times, he limited his diet to nuts and berries (no pulses, green leafy vegetables, or tree fruit) to the point of hospitalization."

Gandhi was an unattractive kook - and you don't see any connection between his actions and the dietary insanity (and/or "wellness" hysteria) of the unattractive kooks in contemporary NewAge liberal culture? Controlling our diets is a huge part of the indoctrination process into the NewAge:

First they control what you think, then they control what you eat, culminating in eventual control over your life.

"Albion Winegar Tourgee (1838-1905), also wrote under the pseudonym Henry Churton, was an American soldier, Radical Republican, lawyer, judge, novelist, and diplomat. A pioneer civil rights activist, he founded the National Citizens' Rights Association and litigated for the plaintiff Homer Plessy in the famous segregation case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)"

"Though the discussion of sectional and racial problems is an important element in the book, A Fool’s Errand has merit as a dramatic narrative—with its love affair, and its moments of pathos, suffering, and tragedy. This combination of tract and melodrama made it a bestseller in its day. Total sales have been estimated as 200,000, a remarkable record in the l880’s for a book of this kind.

Though Tourgée later disavowed his early optimism about the role national education could play in remedying the race problem in the South, calling this a “genuine fools notion,” he might have been less pessimistic had he been alive in 1960, when the student sit-in movement began in the South. At any rate, today in what has been called the second phase of the modern revolution in race relations in this country, Tourgée’s novel about the first phase has an added relevance and interest for thinking American readers."

"The Invisible Empire investigates white supremacy as it emerged from the milieu of slavery, war, politics, and Reconstruction. Tourgée argues that organizations such as the Klan appealed to the mass of white southerners as a means of ameliorating their defeat and ensuring a measure of political control. He describes that Klan as the produce of southern hostility toward “any and all things” associated with the uplifting of the black population. Tourgée’s efforts in his books and in his life, were aimed at undermining racism and promoting egalitarian and democratic ideals."

I did not think it was possible, but it turns out that Obama is a bigger fake than John Kerry. Certainly a more effective one.

The article Althouse links was published January 19, 2009 by the NYT. A few days later the NYT published the following "correction."

Correction: January 26, 2009 An article last Monday about literary influences on Barack Obama misstated the time frame during which he found inspiration in “Parting the Waters,” the first installment of Taylor Branch’s multivolume biography of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was after Mr. Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, not during that period.

Did the reporter really get that one little fact wrong? Or did someone blow the whistle, pointing out that Parting the Waters was published in 1989, after Obama's stint as a community organizer ended.

Looks to me like Obama was caught in a lie, and the NYT covered for him.

If Bush claimed to have read a book several years before its publication date, what do you suppose the NYT reaction would be?

"And I am thinking that, soon enough, J will only recall the "two ladies" in this story."

Already happened, Penny, years ago. Just before prom. And, at a suitably old age, another passed, with services held just off State, at Holy Redeemer... at the very same church the one remaining woman attended grade school.

I don't believe this list. I'm sure he has read the books, but, dollars to donuts, he has read the Autobiography of Malcolm X with more zest and appreciation than that of Gandhi. Shakespeare's tragedies: Is that a delicate nod to Othello? There's not a lot Lear or MacBeth in him that I can see, and every Harvard grad was Hamlet. I go with Othello. He's waiting for the big betrayal. His failures will not be failures but betrayals. His world is flush with Iagos.....Such an earnest, proper list is revelatory of nothing so as his wish to occlude his real enthusiasms.

Every great liar accompanies his falsehoods with a few true details that he believes will solidify the perception of veracity. In this case, the President (if indeed he concocted this absurd list) may well have read Gilead from cover to cover. Jesus fucking christ what have we done to ourselves.